Swap Shop founder, race car driver Preston Henn dead at 86

Preston Henn’s famous Swap Shop just west of Fort Lauderdale first opened as a drive-in movie theater on Nov. 22, 1963 — the day John F. Kennedy was killed.

Ever since, for the next 53 years, Henn’s Swap Shop has become a metropolis, a place that draws some 12 million visitors a year (that’s 32,000 a day). As a tourist attraction, Henn advertises it second only to Disney World — although the owners of Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise make the same claim.

Henn himself made five starts at Le Mans with a best finish of 10th in 1983. His Porsche 962 driven by Foyt and Wollek won the 1985 12 Hours of Sebring.

Henn also participated in offshore powerboat racing. He inexplicably ceased all racing activities a few years later and subsequently refused to discuss his racing career.[4] Despite this, Henn still maintained an extensive exotic car collection both in his private estate and on display at the Swap Shop[5] and is a participant of the Ferrari FXX program.[6][7][8]